'Defiance' - 'Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go' sees the town struggle with the Castithans

"Defiance" followed up the Volge attack with more machinations from ex-Mayor Riordon. What did you think of "Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go"?

While the nuclear reactor plotline, courtesy of Riordon and her henchman Mr. Birch, was somewhat interesting, we found the struggle with Castithan's "cleansing ritual" to be the far more compelling story of the week.

When the Castithans essentially torture Elah Bandik, Nolan and Irisa want to put a stop to it, while Mayor Rosewater insists that Defiance has agreed to let all the races practice their own customs and religions. In the end, they save Elah only to have him dumped dead on their doorstep the next day.

Watching the races struggle with one another's beliefs could be quite the interesting theater for "Defiance" -- human interest stories, metaphors for present-day Earth problems. Did you find the Castithan plot this week compelling?

Speaking of Castithans, Stahma is fast becoming our favorite character. She's like Cersei Lannister in post-apocalyptic, alien Earth. It'll be fun to watch her schemes in regards to the McCawley mines.

As for the nuclear reactor arc, we found that about the only interesting part of that was old St. Louis. It was definitely creepy to see the city underground -- the paddle wheel from the riverboat was what really threw us.

What did you think, "Defiance" fans? A worthy follow up to the premiere?